Premiering tonight: The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

2022-09-02

The wait is over! How to watch The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power – premiering TODAY on Amazon Prime Video

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Today is the official premiere of The Lord of the Rings billion-dollar TV series on Amazon Prime Video, The Rings of Power.

Said to be one the most expensive television series ever made, it is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth, more than 2000 years before Frodo and Bilbo Baggins’ fabled journey from The Shire in JRR Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Here’s everything Lord Of The Ring fans need to know.

Where can I watch The Rings of Power?

The Rings of Power has been released today on Amazon Prime Video September 2 in the UK.

Prime Video benefits are included with an Amazon Prime membership. With your membership, which costs £7.99 per month or £79 per year, you can watch hundreds of TV shows and movies, including WandaVision and The Mandalorian, on your favourite devices.

If you only want to use Amazon’s video service, you can also sign up for a standalone Amazon Prime Video subscription that costs £5.99 per month, but this excludes standard Prime member benefits such as free premium delivery and early access to lightning deals.

The first episode (eight in total), titled Shadow of the Past, and its follow-up are available to all Amazon Prime subscribers on the platform simultaneously.

Episodes will then be released weekly from September 9 until October 14, when the season finale will be made available.

What should we expect?

A synopsis says the series will ‘take viewers back to an era in which great powers were forged, kingdoms rose to glory and fell to ruin, unlikely heroes were tested, hope hung by the finest of threads, and one of the greatest villains that ever flowed from Tolkien’s pen threatened to cover all the world in darkness.’

‘Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared reemergence of evil to Middle-earth.

‘From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the farthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.’

The wait is over: The first episode (eight in total), titled Shadow of the Past, and its follow-up are available to all Amazon Prime subscribers on the platform simultaneously

Who stars in The Rings of Power?

Among those cast in the series include Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Robert Aramayo, Owain Arthur, Charles Edwards, Lenny Henry, Markella Kavenagh, Sophia Nomvete, Lloyd Owen, Megan Richards and Dylan Smith.

The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power: What did the critics say?

The Guardian

Rating:

The visual splendour of this rich, gorgeous Tolkien drama will make you gawp throughout it makes House of Dragon look amateur.

I love Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) the fighter. She is valiant, flawed and haughty, as bloody-minded as she is brilliant, scarred by the horrors of war.

This is enormously enjoyable TV, a cinematic feast.

Entertainment Weekly

Amazon’s prequel is kind of a catastrophe.

It takes six or seven things everyone remembers from the famous movie trilogy, adds a water tank, makes nobody fun, teases mysteries that aren’t mysteries, and sends the best character on a pointless detour.

The Independent

Rating:

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power sets out its sprawling epic fantasy credentials right from the off: even its title seems like it could be split into multiple instalments.

While The King Of Power might be a brand new story, it still has plenty of authentic Tolkienesque charm to go along with the best production value money can buy.

Variety

From this prelude onward, The Rings of Power narrative adopts a solemn and awestruck approach.

The first two episodes are admirably concise and compelling in their introductions.

Empire

Rating:

Lavish and sweeping, The Rings Of Power puts its money where its mouth is.

The immensely fun Dwarves are Scottish-tinged and larger than life, canny and caring all at once.

It might take a second to get accustomed to these new characters, but the signs are that it will be worthwhile.

NME

Rating:

‘Don’t the great tales never end?’ asks hobbit Samwise Gamgee during a slower moment in The Lord Of The Rings. He’s talking about his own journey through J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy world – but he might as well be referring to the franchise itself.

As a start, this is an excellent one.

The Times

Despite the inventiveness that the creators have had to deploy to populate Tolkien’s world with fresh, non-canonical characters, the whole thing has the vibe of terrified executives carrying an exceedingly expensive vase across a slippery floor.

Perhaps two episodes aren’t enough to judge, and we are indeed gearing up for the greatest and most gripping fantasy TV series ever made. But I’m certainly not there yet.

The Mirror

Rating:

I’ve got a pretty good inkling of how Amazon is hoping to make its money back. By flogging thousands of expensive big screen TVs – so viewers can truly appreciate the full cinematic wonder of this J.R.R. Tolkien masterpiece.

The special effects in this prequel could very well blow his Peter Jackson’s pair of Tolkien trilogies out of the water – and that’s before we’ve even seen the most spectacular of the promised battle scenes.

The Sun

It’s ok but not wizard.

It is the beautiful New Zealand scenery, intricate sets and fantastical costumes that are a major highlight of the first two episodes. They are a happy distraction from the plot and characters, which come thick and fast.

The history behind this series is rushed through at such a pace only JRR Tolkien devotees could properly keep up.

What is clear, though, is that Amazon Prime Video has found someone truly precious in lead actress Morfydd Clark.

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